Specs released for NSW school laptops
December 4, 2008 by GH
The laptops must weigh less than 1.75 kilograms with battery, be no bigger than an A4 sheet of paper and include a 8.9- to 12-inch screen with built-in webcam. A disk drive was optional but the battery must be able to run for six hours of the school day under normal use.
Aesthetics has emerged as a key consideration. Design options “may include a range of colours or styles for the case, or options for individualising its appearance” such as the ability to insert a sheet of paper into the lid, an adhesive plastic overlay that can be drawn on or stickers.
The laptops will be locked to the DET’s network. Students will be able to install their own software but they will not be able to remove the DET’s applications and will be forbidden from modifying operating system settings.
A capability to provide voice and video communications will be particularly important.
All for $500 …I want to see this!
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/12/03/1228257109543.html
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You know my concern is that no-one has said much about the infrastructure to support these machines…a school local to me is getting 300+ machines with no changes to their current infrastructure? Perhaps I am assuming the worst and its all in place?
I’ve had my ear to the ground on this one and know of no upgrades to their infrastructure as yet. Whether that will happen over this Holiday we’ll have to wait and see.
But according to thne original announcement;
“As the laptops run on a wireless network, there was no need to build expensive computer labs or banks of network servers” ….
Obviously, there are some people out there who believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden too!